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Thank you America!

Do excuse the irrelevance of this post to Bollywood*. I finally voted for the first time in my life today. Thank you America! Most privileged to carry a vote for a most deserving candidate. Off I went, at seven in the morning, Barack OBollywood-ing my way to the polling station. Turned out it had an 'orange' line and a 'green' line. For a moment, I almost ran to the center in my white shirt and blue tie (do all the colors remind you of some other flag? I know it's saffron and not orange, but you get the point)! =)

*It's actually not entirely irrelevant. Look at some of this guy's traits, and tell me you agree that it requires some of those characteristics in a leader to work well across partisan lines. :o)

This note added 11/6: Aamir Khan at his blog:

...Obama has won. My congratulations to the people of the US, this is their victory as much as Obama’s. Well now his work really begins, time for him to fulfil all his promises. Quite a soap opera though.

Our president-elect will be a welcome (and much needed) complement to America's constructive visions for a global community. Of course, we start with repairing some local damage, which will be critical.

As for Bhuvan, I was just trying to live up to the promise of every post being somehow related to Bollywood :P

The Bollywood Lover: Thank you. I was too young to vote when elsewhere, and this was the first time I was eligible here.

Joe our friend not-the-plumber told me of your Bollywood love. You should share such things! :) Just wanted to say thank you for your tireless service in Miami-Dade county this election season. Quite a difference from '04 eh? Counts from the precincts you targeted look awwrrright to me this time around! =) Jacqui and the team say hi. Dave

Dave: Thank you! I'm humbled by your visit. And thanks to Joe the friend, you now know where else to find me, LOL. Things did look different this time around, especially in the south and central. I want to say *yay* but it was about time, and only fair.

Talk to you soon. I want to hear all about the fun you all had last night, and I hope you've changed (even slightly will do) since our tailgating days at the U :P

oh. god. i m so guilty for not remembering this song is from Mela. I had seen that movie 2 times. So awful it was. still. But may be this song was deleted to cut the length. so i could not see that. THANKS. i thought this song was from movie THE GURU.

OK, I hope you don't mind a little dissenting opinion now - though certainly not from a McCain fan. :) I am old enough (and then some) to have voted for Bill Clinton in 1992, with a tremendous eagerness to end the Reagan-Bush era. Admittedly, I did not completely agree with Clinton, either, but I was surprisingly happy to see him win. However, as the Clinton administration got fully underway and Clinton successfully put through policies that continued the trends of neoliberalism (NAFTA, etc.) and dismantling of the welfare state, any hopes that I might have had for a real departure from the old policies were quickly dashed.

I didn't vote this year; I didn't register in time. But had I voted, I would have cast a ballot for Ralph Nader. Since I live in New York, I really wasn't concerned about McCain winning our electoral votes, and Obama's stances on many of the issues (opposed to single-payer healthcare, for the $700 billion bailout, for increased U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, etc.) are also very different from my own.

But I don't put much faith in presidential elections to make big changes anyway. I believe that for any major change to happen, it's going to have to come from social pressures "from below." (And I do have my own history of activism - "anti-globalization" protests, etc., though not as much in the past few years.) If there is anything to celebrate with the election of Obama, it is that this is at least a sign of changing social pressures, a shift in the political wind.

It's nice that a few of you have taken such a keen interest in the political situation. But I hope you'll extend that interest beyond this faith in a single politician, even if you do like him more than I do.

Hi Richard: Thank you for stopping by, and I truly appreciate your viewpoints! All very valid arguments that have been and will be debated extensively throughout the political ecosystem.

Here are some of my thoughts, Others, please feel free to chime in as well.

My vote was determined when I asked myself two fairly simple, top-level questions, that I think should be asked before any contest:

1. Under whose leadership will we, as a nation, be better off around the time of the next election? If we go by precedence and platforms -- which is really all I went by at the beginning -- I think the answer is really quite obvious. In which case it's only fair the other party got an opportunity to do it their way. Something's been horribly wrong (again, relatively speaking) in our political system of late, and if, as you say (and I agree), major change needs to come from social pressures from below, then:

2. Who is the better communicator and thus better at inspiring others to facilitate this? We agree that we need someone who brings with him/her the maximum potential (because there are no guarantees) to enforce a tone at the top (it matters) that encourages the bottom-up influence. Relatively speaking, I think Obama was the clear choice here.

Great advice on the extension of political interest beyond one politician! That's a keeper, my friend (no, no, I'm not trying to sound like the 'maverick' :P). For what it's worth, I carried a vote on a state Board of Governors (on behalf of the state's college student population) before Obama announced he was running for president. And there is still plenty more than I'll ever admit that has me interested in and a believer in politics and government :)

I do agree with Obama's framework, though. It might not be perfect, but like many political scientists say of democracy, I really think it is the best of the options. For that, he's won my support. As more an observer (I should be more involved if I really want to bring about my own style of change; there's every opportunity, especially in our country), I can only hope he delivers. There is a long way to go, that's for certain. Time will tell, eh?!

First off, I like your current banner image, from Bhoothnath, right? Interesting commenting going on here.

@ Richard, love your and agree with your "single politician" comment. I am always suspicious of the political scene, but do like the general healing message of Barack being elected here, even if nothing more comes of it, though I hope something more will result. I was even impressed by McCain's classy concession speech and got a kick out of seeing all the hot young blonds in the audience sipping of chardonnay, looking sad.

OK, so on a non-related, but sort of related point, I just finished reading "A Fine Balance"

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fine_Balance)

and thought of both of you guys (Richard, theBollywoodFan)and Bollywood fans in general. Have either of you read this book? If so wouldn't it make a FANTASTIC Bollywood movie? If you haven't read it, I know you'd like it, and especially find the political impact of Indira Gandhi's reign on India and the characters in the novel in general a point of interest.

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"See, I wanted to be a director, I became one. Wanted to be an actor, I became one. Wanted to make good pictures, I have done that too. Have money, have everything. But I have nothing left."

Guru Dutt

"The world screams and shouts all kinds of advice and suggestions and actions to be undertaken, but in the end you fight your battles alone. It's just you and your opponent, your issue, your problem."

Amitabh Bachchan

"While we can use cinema as a medium to teach, create awareness, make people think, make people socially more aware, etc., the fact is that cinema's primary purpose is to entertain."